Is Your Veterinarian Ripping You Off?

A couple of years ago, I adopted a senior cat from the pound. I took him to the veterinarian, who told me that he was in the early stages of kidney failure and would need frequent blood work and urinalyses done. I was devastated and felt myself starting to mourn.

I did not have pet insurance and found that the frequent vet visits were not only traumatizing my cat but my wallet as well. When the vet recently refused to renew my cat’s prescription without a panel of tests that would run me $538, I decided to call other vets for a quote.

What I found out about my veterinarian shocked me.

My veterinarian was overcharging me and running unnecessary tests.

The first thing I did was call a friend who volunteers for a pet rescue organization for veterinarian referrals. I called the vets she recommended, and got quotes for the specific tests that my vet wanted to charge me $538 for. Twice a year. Plus bloodwork every 6 weeks.

One would charge $302, the other $284. I went with the one that charged $284, not just because of the savings, but because it was considerably closer, which is important when your cat is terrified of riding in the car.

When I arrived at the vet, my poor, scared cat had vomited in the carrier. This is how much he hates the veterinarian. But this new vet was different.

The new veterinarian took the time to go through my paperwork and explain the labs to me.

He said that while my cat was in the early stages of “kidney failure,” kidney disease is very slow to develop. It can take years. In the past two years, my cat’s lab work had barely changed. No significant drop in numbers. So for two years, I was prematurely mourning his imminent demise when he was doing fine. My previous vet had me believing that if I didn’t bring my cat in every 6 weeks for blood work that I was a bad “cat mother” and he could take a turn for the worse. (At least that was the implication.)

My cat was being over-tested.

The new veterinarian looked at all the pages and pages of lab work I had done on my cat and was horrified and disgusted. He couldn’t believe how much blood and urine was taken from this poor cat when the results were “statistically the same.” I asked why he thought the previous vet had demanded so many tests. His opinion: “For the money.”

This is extremely disturbing to me. Not only because I had dropped thousands of dollars at that vet’s office, but because it’s a fact that senior cats are often dumped at the pound because their owners simply cannot afford the vet bills.

Some of the lab work I was doing was not only unnecessary, but redundant.

This new vet explained to me that it was unnecessary to test both blood and urine. A blood test will reveal if there is a problem with the kidneys, so there is no reason to test the urine as well. How would I have known that?

I have been giving medicine that may be unnecessary and ineffective.

I have been giving my cat shots that run me about $350 for a 1 ml. bottle. I started out giving the shots every 2 weeks, but now am down to every 8 weeks. My previous vet swore these shots were helping but this vet said that this particular medicine helps “marginally at best.” I am going to continue to use up the bottle (even though my cat hates getting shots!) and see if I notice a difference once I stop.

The new vet’s recommendation?

I should bring my cat in for a check-up and “senior panel” blood work once or twice a year. Because he is an older cat, every six months is recommended, but a year is okay as well. Otherwise, only if there is a problem. (Definitely if he stops eating – that is always a red flag.) Since we did not run a urinalysis, the bill was even lower – it came out to $204. That’s $334 less than if I had gone to my old vet. And unlike my old veterinarian, I was not charged a “hazardous waste fee” for cleaning the poor cat and wiping down the carrier. The prescription was renewed and when the lab work came back the next day, I was informed that the numbers were actually better.

In addition to the savings, I got something that made me even happier.

I got the gift of realizing that my cat is not facing imminent death – he is doing fine! There is no cure for kidney disease. It is gradual in its progression and is common with old age. But it is nothing for me to worry about now. I feel like I can enjoy his company without thinking he’s old and going to die soon. And he is SO grateful that I won’t be shoving him in the carrier, taking him for a terrifying ride in the car only to be poked and prodded every 6 weeks.

What to do if you think your veterinarian is overcharging you.

Ask for a breakdown of every charge and the name of every test or procedure that is being done or recommended.

Call around to other local vets for rates.

Research pet rescue organizations in your area and call or email them for vet recommendations. They tend to work with a lot of vets and while they can’t get you a discount, they know which ones are reasonable and honest.

Don’t blindly trust authority – trust your gut. My instincts told me that my cat hated all these trips to the vet and since he was asymptomatic, I found myself questioning the reason behind them.

According to Consumer Reports, “If your pet faces a major health problem, ask your vet these questions before making any decisions: What are the treatment options? What are the immediate and long-term costs of each? What’s the prognosis for recovery? What will the pet’s post-treatment quality of life be like?”

Comments

I have been really lucky in the vet dept….I have had amazing vets over the years. Our family has had to move to different states because of my husbands job, so I have needed a new vet every few years. I research vets in my new area on Yelp.com. I have found people are pretty forward about sharing their personal experiences on there and I have not been steered wrong so far 🙂

I adopted a 2 1/2 year old Bichon Poodle mix eight weeks ago. I took her to my vet and the first thing I was told is that all of Daphne’s back teeth needed to be pulled to the tune of $700. I was stunned. The dog isn’t even three years old yet. I took her home, and seriously contemplated having the procedure done. But, in the meantime, I changed the food she’d been eating to a larger dry kibble. She has to work at it to eat it, but she loves it. I checked her teeth yesterday and it appears that some of the tartar has been removed. The sad part of this is that my vet is the daughter of one of my best friends. I made an appointment today with a vet I’d been taking my dogs to several years back… just for an unbiased second opinion on Daphne’s overall health. I’ll be really curious to see what they say.

I am very curious too. Please report back! I don’t know which is worse – that your friend’s daughter might be ripping you off or that your new pet might need $700 worth of dental care! I’ve written about pet insurance before. I highly, highly recommend it.

I am very curious, too! Please let us know what the 2nd opinion is. I had a dentist tell me once that I needed 8 or 9 filling replacements (for me, not my cat). I went to another dentist who said that was unnecessary – there were one or two that needed to be taken care of now, but the rest we could just keep an eye on. A 2nd opinion is always worth it!

Hello, as a vet, can I just say that I’m really sorry to hear all that you’ve been through. It sounds as if all you’ve ever wanted to do was look after your beloved cat and the advice that you have gotten has been conflicting and confusing.

I did notice something strange in the story. The second vet said that your cat didnt need to have blood and urine tests at the same time. This isnt correct. When checking the kidneys, vets look at two enzymes (BUN and creatinine) in the blood. If they are high we do not know if this is due to kidney problems or simple dehydration without looking at the urine simultaneously i.e. you need both. A urine test on its own wont tell you anything other than there are signs of infection and/or the urine is very dilute/concentrate.

Just wanted to point out that the second vet sounds a bit mixed up, and maybe the first one was on the right track. Either way it does sound as if there was poor communication to you on both counts. I hope you have better luck with another veterinarian – most of us are in the job because we love animals. Yes, we make a living but it’s the rare bad apple that is out to price gouge.

My heart gos out to everyone of you. Iam ill myself and on top of that fighting cancer in the pet. 1,000s. You wat to see a rip off situation wait till (GOD forbid)your pet gos down the cancer treatment road. L spar, vinblastin, L spar again, vincristine, Lomistine, denamarin, secrulafate, x rays x 5, blood work x lost count, and more. They have me on the hook for a cancer and they cant even tell me where its at. The pet is helping keep me alive. whats bad as well is that almost every local vet thinks their a pet onacologist if they can get the chemo meds. Now there is a dog sicker from the meds practicaly over night than the full of energy, wanting to play pet beforehand. with lymph nodes so bad that predasoin now must be tried despite the now black and tarry stools. Pets not in any pain so would like to give her into x mass if you could pray for us. Thank you

A pharmarcy has guidelines for levothyroxine as .1 mg per pound every 24 hrs or half every 12 hrs. My beagles have been given a prescription of the 24 hr amount at 2x’s a day. I asked for the past two years to use an amoun closer to .1 mg per lb, whcich has always been higher then their weight would indicate. In light of the description per 24 hrs, has he doubled the prescription for my 40 lb beagle by dispensing .5mg 2x’s a day.

One other part to my question is that he withheldthe prescription unless a T3 test was done every year. This seems overkill for the .1 mg per lb formula. Should i correct this, if so how?
Thanks So Much for this Forum!!
Nathan Sady